Mission Possible

For our visitors, throughout the month of June, we’ve been going through a series called “HEROES WANTED: An Invitation To Change The World” In the book of Acts, we’ve been tracking a very ordinary group of men and women who had a defining encounter with God’s power, and were able to change their city, and then their region and then the world. The amazing thing we’ve been learning is that this same power is available for us today. God is still in the business of turning ordinary men and women into world-changing super-heroes, and this book shows us how. We’ve looked at the impact these disciples had on their city and on their region. Today we want to see how they launched out into what seemed like an impossible mission – changing the very world that they lived in. The title of my message is ‘Mission Possible’. Please turn in your bibles to Acts 11:1-18

Peter was in trouble. Even though he was one of the leaders of the Jerusalem church, he was facing serious criticism from fellow leaders and church members. He had broken some ancient taboos – Jews were not supposed to associate with foreigners, let alone share a meal with them in their homes. But that’s exactly what Peter had done. And as a result, people were unhappy with him and they were dragging his name in the mud.

There were two major objections to what Peter was doing. The first was a religious one; the Jews believed they were God’s chosen people. Contact with non-Jews or Gentiles was seen as bringing contamination. And even though Jesus had talked about his disciples about reaching out to Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria and the rest of the earth, most of these Christians clearly didn’t think that meant they actually go out and associate with those people! What if they became contaminated? What if they became like them? Their religious inhibitions put a barrier between them and the people they were meant to reach.

Today I want to talk more about the 2nd objection to what Peter had done. And it was one to do with responsibility. The Jews were a relatively insignificant and poor people. They were one of the smaller nations colonized by the Romans. They probably figured they had enough issues of their own to deal with. I mean who were they to think they could reach people in nations that were much larger, more civilized and wealthier than theirs? Surely, that must be someone else’s job!

I believe the same thinking dogs us today as the church in Africa. According to popular wisdom, there are some things that are just not supposed to happen. For example, we all know that when you talk about a ‘missionary’ in this part of the world, you are probably talking about a white person from Europe or America. People who start non-profit organizations to help the poor must be from Western countries, where people have already taken care of their basic needs. And the word ‘donor’ refers to people from other parts of the world.

For poor Africans, we are supposed to have too many issues to take care off in our lives, in our extended families and in our poor countries to think about solving the problems of the world. Surely that must be someone else’ job!

But the amazing moral of our story is that God is no respecter of persons. That’s what Peter discovered in his vision. He shared his discovery in Acts 10:34, ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right’. God doesn’t play favourites! He can use anybody, even the least person, to do the miraculous!

By sharing the gospel with this wealthy Roman, Peter had no idea he was launching a movement that would lead a small, uneducated group of people from a small, insignificant nation to change Asia, Europe and ultimately the entire world.

But my God is the God of the impossible! It’s not about where you come from; it’s about who you represent! Just like in the book of Acts, He is turning things upside down. In the last two centuries, Christianity flowed from the West to the Rest. In 1900 over 80% of all Christians lived in Europe and Northern America but by 2005, a reversal had happened; 60% of Christians now live outside the ‘West’ and that figure is rising rapidly. There are over 350M Christians in Africa alone.

In the process, the traditional ‘Christian’ countries have now become mission fields. In 2000 for instance, only 0.6% of people in the UK attended church on a weekend! These are mostly older people huddled at the front with Japanese tourists taking pictures at the back. This is true across the whole of Europe where once beautiful places of worship have been converted into shopping malls, theatres and markets.

So… how is that any of our business? Don’t we have enough issues of our own to care about what goes on in such places? Well, allow me to give you some perspective about that… Many years ago, young men & women from Europe and North America left their jobs and families and travelled to countries far away where the gospel was not known, including our own. They had no hope of enriching themselves, unlike the colonialists. Their journeys took them many months, and many died of diseases & accidents before they even got where they were going. It is a documented fact that some of them carried their coffins among their possessions, because they fully believed they would never see their homes again. And yet God’s love compelled them to go. As a result of their sacrifice, we received the light of the gospel.

Mavuno exists because these young people gave. I believe the time has come for us to repay the favor! Just like the early disciples going from their poor nations to reach lost people in far wealthier countries, it’s our turn to go. We may not have the money but we have the power of the Holy Spirit! It’s not about where you come from; it’s about who you represent!

I love Nigerian Christians! Somehow they’ve understood the power of the God whom we serve. The largest church in Europe, found in the Ukraine, is led by Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian [30k people changing their nation]. The largest church in England is led by a Nigerian; Matthew Ashimolow.

One of the most astonishing churches in the world is the RCCG. Their local pastor, Pst. Esther Obasike will be one of our plenary speakers at the Fearless Summit. Originally founded in 1952, they began expanding in 1981 after their current overseer pastor Enoch Adeboye took over the churches leadership. 30 years later, they have over 4000 churches in Nigeria alone and at least one church in every single country of the world, including over 600 in North America! And they’re just beginning! Their mission is ‘to have a member of RCCG in every family in every nation’. They plan to do this through planting “churches within five minutes walking distance in every city and town of developing countries and within ten minutes driving distance in every city and town of developed countries” Somebody say ‘these Nigerians are crazy o!’

When I look at these bold Nigerians and the amazing things they are doing for the kingdom, I comfort myself by saying, ‘God is not a Nigerian!’ God is not a respecter of persons! If He can do it for them, He can do it for us! The bible says ‘the people who know their God will be strong and do exploits’ I believe that the work of God in Africa can be financed by Africans and that we can become a sending nation for the gospel of Christ. It’s not about where you come from; it’s about who you represent!

Let me end this series with a story…In 1914, historic British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was planning an impossible mission to be the first to make the 2000 mile journey across the South Pole. He is reputed to have placed a recruitment ad in a London newspaper. It was one that most companies would probably never put out. This is what it said, ‘Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long hours of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in the event of success.’ What kind of person could possibly apply for a job like that? Amazingly, it is said that 5000 men applied for the job! Out of them, Shackleton handpicked 28 men, who became so famous for their exploits that several books and movies have been made about their heroic escapades.

2 Chronicles 16:9 says ‘The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him’. God is also recruiting today for His mission to change the world. His ad reads, ‘Heroes wanted for hazardous, impossible mission of taking a city, changing a continent and winning the world. Challenges galore. High risk of misunderstanding and criticism by others. Only God’s presence and power guaranteed!’

Mavuno Church, your mission, should you accept it, is nothing short of changing the world! Who will stand up and be counted? Who will say ‘my greatest ambition is to accomplish the purpose of God in my generation? Who will stop living a life they can accomplish by their own strength, and trust God for an adventurous life that can only be lived by God’s power? Who will say ‘I will not settle for a comfortable Christian life, or be distracted by things that have no eternal value, but with God’s help I will discover my purpose and be the hero that this city, continent and world needs? This is who we are Mavuno; we are the ones who get to change the world! Remember, it’s not about where you come from; it’s about who you represent!

17 Responses to “Mission Possible”

I once read a quote by Brian Tracy that says, if God gave us a 100 life times on earth, we would never exhaust our potentials. Meaning, God has given us the very things we need to be a fearless influencer and impact this world. Unfortunately, we look for comfort knowing we are “safe” under the wings of our fellow brothers and sisters and even our pastors.

As for me, this reveals a lot in my business. My business is not just about making money but through the services I offer may the Holy Spirit continue to teach me how to make impact through my business.

Mission Possible message was a blessing to my life, i realized those things that seem big to me are only the smallest in the eyes of God! Its been a month since i joined Mavuno church and i must say i came in at the right time with the right reason. To represent whom is everlasting above all!

The month of June has been great with the Count Me In Campaign ongoing. The idea of a prayer guide brochure to pray together as Mavunites and also the mission to acquire land in Mlonlongo (with a tweng) is very brilliant and i have Faith we will hit our targets and surpass them Amen!

I came in with the need of belonging and a thirst for the word of God. Here at Mavuno i fell appreciated, engaged, blessed and most of all i feel at home. I must say it is the place to be at this point in my life and i a happy to say i am a testimony the God can make the impossible be possible.

Pst. Muriith continue inspiring the entire Mavunites congregation with the word that quenches ourthirst, that nourishes our thoughts, that gives hope to the hopeless, that changes the unchangeable, that unites all cultures to be one and represent the Most High to the fullest for his mercies endures forever!

Once again, the sermon was super awesome and it got me thinking that in my own little place I can surely make a difference in Africa!

I have one question/concern though, especially on the Praise & Worship session. I have been coming to Mavuno for the last 3 years now and consider Mavuno as my home church. Since I am part of the Mavuno family I would just like to address this issue coz it concerns me.

Why does the church convert secular music into gospel music? and yet I feel that there are so many ‘hip’ gospel music today? It just doesn’t feel right coz this is the music you most probably hear in the clubs. I imagine someone who probably raved last night only to come hear the same song (in now a Christian version) playing in church… it must be totally confusing for them! In fact one of my pals was sharing with me that she brought a friend to service on Sunday and the friend could not relate to the Praise and really questioned how we conduct praise at Mavuno. My friend could not even ‘tetea’ the church coz she does not also believe in that music conversion!

I am well aware that we had the ‘We are Family’ sermon series recently which tried to explain why we do things the way we do at Mavuno, which once again was an amazing sermon. But can someone please explain why the church converts secular music to gospel music.

I tend to think that as we change our City to change the world, we should sing all the gospel music to the extent that the secular world will be emulating the christian world and they will be singing our songs! :-):-)

Great sermon Pst.M. Anyango I am of the same opinion when it comes to music. I believe that God has given the church more than enough talent backed by the x-factor (Holy Spirit) that it should be the world that is trying to copy/emulate gospel or ”God inspired” music and not the other way round.

This topic has been discussed before in many forums and the church has given its reasons which if I remember well one of the reasons is that all music was created by God and there is no devil’s or world music. So when the church converts secular music to gospel it is just taking back what was stolen and giving it back to God. Another one is that most of the gospel songs played today in mainstream churches like in golden bells, the tunes were infact from bar music in the middle centuries and when those people became christians they converted the words to gospel. It also has to do with ”being all things to all men inorder to win some over”.

Thats the explanation given by the church but i am yet to be worn over. Everybody has a right to their own opinion so lets not be caught up in the small matters like Paul says in the bible, but lets focus on the big picture of changing Africa and the World and lets pray for the Lord to lead the church in the right path on this issue.

Aki Pastor M could we do away with this whether it’s right or wrong. Since it brings up so much confusion. Please Pastor M.

Romans 14:1
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Titus 3:9-11
“Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”

I will start my talk with that verse in mind. I agree the church should look at this and pray about it more (I know they have) but pray more about it MORE. Also when we say that God created everything dint He even say in the bible that he “created evil”? Isaiah 45:7
Secondly on the ‘Paul issue’ when he said that, “I become all things to all men?” Wasn’t he was talking about fulfilling a need before he preached to them? Like, if they were hungry, he would feed them. If they spoke a different language, he learnt the language to talk to them. Was his address or letter associated with copying the world? E.g for lack of a better example if they listened to music that glorified worldliness, he would change that to draw a crowd for him to preach the Gospel to?

I know quite a number of people that don’t attend worship for this reason. How do we address this issue? Is God calling us to be copy cats or different? (be ye separate 2Cor 3:17) What about to the “NEW SONG” that David spoke of? Also let’s not use Martin Luther excuse (a respected Christ ambassador by the way) who purportedly changed bar tunes (checked the net to see if he did this and it’s not very clear) what if we stick to what the bible and not Martin Luther jnr said? What does the bible say about this issue? Let’s also consider the level of dirt and satanic involvement in our music today is now where close to those days. All I can say lets pray I hope God answers us regarding this issue and lets all be humble to accept it. But at the moment let’s ran with what Pastor M leads u to do. Pastor M please be honest with yourself to and pray about it (I know you have) but more wisdom from God on the issue won’t hurt.

Again I finish with the same verse
Titus 3:9-11
“Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” ()

Deuteronomy 7:25
Make sure you set fire to their carved gods. Don’t get greedy for the veneer of silver and gold on them and take it for yourselves – you’ll get trapped by it for sure.
(Will this music build the desire for the young Christians to go out and get the real stuff?)

Anyango and Alex that is a good question. Also i have been in Mavuno for the last 2 years and mavuno is my church.
For me Praise & Worship should be a lifestyle
Praise & Worship is as natural as eating or breathing. If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being ourselves. The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers! Jesus said, “The Father seeks worshipers.”
The LORD is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love.

In Isaiah 29: The people were offering God stale prayers, insincere praise, empty words, and man-made rituals without even thinking about the meaning. God’s heart is not touched by tradition in worship, but by passion and commitment. The Bible says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” Worship isn’t for me .My motive is to bring glory and pleasure to My God

Question: Someone tell me I we doing the right thing by convert secular music into gospel music???????? Explain.

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: 2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ” ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you–may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’ ” 5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites–everyone whose heart God had moved–prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings. 7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

I totally agree with Anyango and ‘aki Pastor M’ on the music issue.It could be right,i could be wrong but it honestly pushes away the very people we cud be trying to reach out to!Even them dayz when i used 2 come to church nursing hangovers,it never appealed to me!I was coming to look 4 smth different!not a reminder of the horrible clubbing n drinking lifestyle.And even now as a die-hard Mavunite n Christ follower,it still unsettles me n i find my mind straying n getting distracted.All in all,the sermon series is awesomest!When Pst M prayed 4 pple with impossible situations i cudnt stand up fast enough!!!Enyewe God is real n still loves me!I believe i will be back here soon with an amazing testimony!

Thanks all for the great comments! Very inspiring. @Anyango, @AkiPastorM :-) and @Alex, please check out my blog (www.greatnessnow.wordpress.com) for some thoughts on your comments. God bless and have a heroic day! Pastor M

I think that as a church, this is a conversation that has been discussed to near death. I had some concerns initally, but the more I gave this thought and concerted prayer, the clearer it became to me.

I’ll never forget Pastor Linda’s sermons on ‘We Are Family’. She said that society today is driven by personal preferences. And if our preferences are not taken into account, we then begin to grumble. “Grumbling undermines great goals”, i remember that as well. Soon we start arguing about the color of the carpet, the songs we should chose and not chose, and so on, and as this festers, we become disconnected from God’s purpose for our lives. Look, here we are expending great energy on the topic of music, when an amazing sermon about playing our part to change the world was preached, something we all need to asking God about.

I don’t hink we’ll all ever agree about all things, and as Pst. linda said, that’s fine. We need to major on the majors and leave out the rest. You know if we went into the history of music like reggae, hip-hop and even neo-soul, we’d be shocked (not to mention hymns and the fact that even the ‘happy birthday’ tune was a bar song). And after getting well enlightened, we could enlist all sorts of Scriptures to support our various positions.

My name is Anne though am not a mavunite this message is the kind that brings transformation from inside. I believe in what Mavuno is doing to affect people’s lives through the gospel. The verse that comes to mind is Mark 7:13 “they rendered the word of God powerless because of their traditions”.

Sometimes traditions can make us get used to the things of God hence not believe in his word and power there off. So Am happy the new way Mavuno is doing things.

Mine is a Mission Possible Question. At the beginning of this year God opened a door for me to start a bible Club where my children go to school in South B. We have bible club every thursday from 3.30 to 4.30. 100 pupils. The teachers also meet for fellowship every wednesday between 1-2, abt 15teachers. So my question is how possible is it to have the teachers and the pupils go through Mizizi. My imagination is telling me that this would be such a transforming experience beyond any description. Please somebody tell me this is possible. And everybody say Amen.

I really enjoyed the word last Sunday – Mission Impossible! Although I just had to add a comment which has tugged at my heart. When talking about the colonial mission and the missionaries and how many gave up their lives because they knew that although we were different we also deserved God’s love and came to the ‘whitemans graveyard’…it was great to hear this side of the story – of course one of the few narratives that is usually overlooked!

Although I did feel it was incredibly romanticised and used generalise a more sinister issue – because truth is with the majority of missionary ‘missions’ is in fact they were part and parcel of the ‘civilising mission’ itself…which was the moral justification and authority given for colonialism. The white civilised christian man bringing all things civilised to the savage, barbaric black man of the soil…and the countless stories of how these missionaries themselves spent a majority of the time scrubbing the ‘black’ off the African.

So it’s great there are a few stories here and there of selfless sacrifice…but let us not romanticise the issue as this could be misleading. i understand it’s a huge topic with lots of nitty gritty – but i just thought i would add my thoughts! blessings

Colonial Thought, i wish I could disagree more with you’re sentiments.

When you speak of the White Christian man, I think the term ‘Christian’ is used too broadly to represent distant affiliation to the church rather than a set of values and beliefs that drive peoples lives. Of course there were people, termed Christians, who drove their own despicable agenda. But the truth of the matter is that the Gospel did not grow because of them. it grew because hidden in the power plays and the politik of the day were selfless men and women who knew that the Gospel had to reach the ends of the earth, and they gave their very lives for it.

You must read of people like C.T Studd and Count Von Zinzendorf, who gave up great wealth in their respective countries to take the Gospel to the far reaches of the world, giving up everything in the process.

Or David Livingstone, who lost his wife and child on the mission field due to tropical illnesses, was attacked by a lion (that totally damaged his shoulder for the rest of his life) and gave up a comfortable future to eek out a living in the African bush for the sake of the Gospel.

Or David Brainerd who travelled thousands of miles on horseback to reach the American indians and died at only 29 doing so.

You say that there are isolated stories. I disagree. The history of African Mission teaches otherwise, unfortunately these stories are lost in the noise of the horrors of colonialism. To tuck them under the rest and not pay attention to them is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And however you argue it, the truth is that Mavuno would never have existed unless brave men and women gave all they had in their possession, lives and all, to fearlessly take the Gospel where it had never gone. It’s our turn.